the keeper's cottage · day 871 · afternoon

Shelter from the rising storm

Kevin enters the cottage, dripping and shivering, as the wind picks up. Jenny is awake, watching him from the flickering lamp light.

The warm rain continues to fall in rhythmic bursts, keeping the humidity levels stifling. Inside the cottage, the air is heavy with the scent of damp earth and salt, making any physical labor with the brush or heavy wood nearly impossible. Jenny lies on the cot, her breathing shallow as the fever fights its hold on her, while the infection in her ankle throbs in time with the rain.

🔧 Kevin06:07

Anchors won't take. Ground's soup.

Strip off the oilskin and hang it on the porch hook, then move to the stove to warm hands over the firebox.

💭 peek at the thought

Ground's too wet for anchors. Steel just spins. Need to wait for a dry window or the soil'll never bite. She's watching — has been. The fever's still in her eyes but she's tracking me. Good. Means she's still fighting.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny06:09

Sit. Then. I'll put the kettle on.

shifts weight on the bed, wincing as the ankle throbs, and reaches for the sea beet poultice.

💭 peek at the thought

He's shivering to the bone and the house is just starting to soak up the rot.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:09

Yeah.

Pull out the chair at the kitchen table and sit heavily, steam rising off wet wool, flexing cold fingers toward the stove door.

💭 peek at the thought

She's hurting bad. The wince tells me more than the temperature. Poultice needs changing — heat's coming through the gauze. I'll do it after the water's hot.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny06:11

Don't move too fast. The floor is slick enough.

unwinds the damp gauze from her ankle and reapplies the cool sea beet paste with shaking hands.

💭 peek at the thought

He looks like a wreck, and I'm half as bad under these sheets.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:11

Water's hot enough for tea?

Reach for the tin mug on the table, wipe condensation off the side with a thumb, and set it back down without lifting.

💭 peek at the thought

Hands shaking. Fever's climbing. She needs the antibiotics down her but the metronidazole tears the stomach. Should've crushed it in the broth earlier. Let her finish the poultice first.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny06:13

Brew it strong.

pulls the pot from the stove and pours boiling water into the tin mug, adding the tea leaves from the old tin.

💭 peek at the thought

The poultice is drawing heat from my ankle and the fever from my blood.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.